I went over to the boat yard to drop off some supplies I intended to use to finish commissioning Sine Qua Non. Stuff like Cetol, gel coat patch, deck cleaner, masking tape. The usual mundane but necessary stuff. As I pulled around a section of large power boats to where Sine Qua Non has been hibernating all winter (until I awoke her last weekend) I notice that the travel lift with a power boat in the slings now occupies Sine Qua Non's spot. Well I've seen yards move boats before for logistical reasons so I drove around the yard looking for my boat. No boat. Now at 7500 lbs and 27 feet X 8.5 feet and 38.5 ft mast, I figured nobody "snuck out" of the yard with her. So I casually but anxiously walked behind the fiberglass repair shed to get a view of my slip. Lo and behold, there looking absolutely gorgeous was Sine Qua Non, bow to the wind absolutely loving it! She looked great and just seeing her there with NO other boats around reminded me how much I love her! I should be happy...but...she wasn't nearly ready to go in yet! I went to the yard office and one of the mechanics was there (not the man in charge). I said, "I see you put my boat in. Don't you think it would have been a good idea to TELL ME about it first!" He looked at the launching schedule on the board and my name was there for April 18th. I said,"Maybe so. But nobody asked me if I was ready or even informed me that I was scheduled for the 18th. I just started to clean the hull. There are some gelcoat dings that need repairing. The teak wasn't done and the hull wasn't waxed. I asked if they had put the zincs on the prop shaft as I had requested and he didn't know. The poor guy was only following the schedule as he was instructed to do. They painted the bottom and put her in the water. She now has to be rehauled, which is always traumatic. I may have to tell them to repaint the bottom at their expense if I have to keep her out longer than bottompaint to launch time allows. I ran over to the boat because I never even told them that I did the seacocks this weekend so they could check them. I climbed aboard and the upside is that my seacocks are working like a charm and there's not a wet spot anywhere near them! Morey's grease passed the test! It felt soooo good sitting aboard with that gentle bobbing from the motion of the water that I didn't want to get off! But, it was cold and the wind was blowing at least 15 knots. As I said, I should be happy to be in the water on April 18th, but I'm not.
Setsail728@aol.com
I should be happy.....but!
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Larry DeMers
Re: I should be happy.....but!
Warren,
Holy cow! Quite the independant marina there..well, it _was_ a good test of the seacock job. Jeesh, I know how you must feel though. We always are present for the launching. The marina does not have our key or permission to board for any reason other than sinking. This was due to one idiot (this happened in our previous marina) that *cut* our lock with a bolt cutter, and then started to move our boat to another slip..but then decided to wait until after lunch..meanwhile, he left the engine idling for 3 maybe 5 hours even. We arrived just after lunch, and about had a kitten! Jeesh, Nobody, but Nobody starts or runs my engine or boat without my permission. The upshot was that the marina didn't even pay for the cut lock..a brass Abus lock that was given to us as a welcome aboard present from the club we belonged to back home. We left that darn place, and didn't look back..
Well, you get another shot at prelaunch work now. Hope that you can convince the marina to cover the pullout/relaunch fees.
You mentioned how she looked sitting there bobbing away at the slip..wow, I can virtually see that scene too. Our boat is on the hard about 30 ft. from waters edge, with our slip about 200 ft. away. Every time I leave the cockpit for the springtime ritual of climbing the ladder up and down several times, I look at our dock sitting there...waiting. Soon I say..not soon enough it says.
Hope it all works out ok..keep us up on the happenings. With Mitch and others launching already, I am envious folks! there is an itch that I can't seem to scratch quite....
Cheers and Go Get Um!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
demers@sgi.com
Holy cow! Quite the independant marina there..well, it _was_ a good test of the seacock job. Jeesh, I know how you must feel though. We always are present for the launching. The marina does not have our key or permission to board for any reason other than sinking. This was due to one idiot (this happened in our previous marina) that *cut* our lock with a bolt cutter, and then started to move our boat to another slip..but then decided to wait until after lunch..meanwhile, he left the engine idling for 3 maybe 5 hours even. We arrived just after lunch, and about had a kitten! Jeesh, Nobody, but Nobody starts or runs my engine or boat without my permission. The upshot was that the marina didn't even pay for the cut lock..a brass Abus lock that was given to us as a welcome aboard present from the club we belonged to back home. We left that darn place, and didn't look back..
Well, you get another shot at prelaunch work now. Hope that you can convince the marina to cover the pullout/relaunch fees.
You mentioned how she looked sitting there bobbing away at the slip..wow, I can virtually see that scene too. Our boat is on the hard about 30 ft. from waters edge, with our slip about 200 ft. away. Every time I leave the cockpit for the springtime ritual of climbing the ladder up and down several times, I look at our dock sitting there...waiting. Soon I say..not soon enough it says.
Hope it all works out ok..keep us up on the happenings. With Mitch and others launching already, I am envious folks! there is an itch that I can't seem to scratch quite....
Cheers and Go Get Um!
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Warren Kaplan wrote: I went over to the boat yard to drop off some supplies I intended to use to finish commissioning Sine Qua Non. Stuff like Cetol, gel coat patch, deck cleaner, masking tape. The usual mundane but necessary stuff. As I pulled around a section of large power boats to where Sine Qua Non has been hibernating all winter (until I awoke her last weekend) I notice that the travel lift with a power boat in the slings now occupies Sine Qua Non's spot. Well I've seen yards move boats before for logistical reasons so I drove around the yard looking for my boat. No boat. Now at 7500 lbs and 27 feet X 8.5 feet and 38.5 ft mast, I figured nobody "snuck out" of the yard with her. So I casually but anxiously walked behind the fiberglass repair shed to get a view of my slip. Lo and behold, there looking absolutely gorgeous was Sine Qua Non, bow to the wind absolutely loving it! She looked great and just seeing her there with NO other boats around reminded me how much I love her! I should be happy...but...she wasn't nearly ready to go in yet! I went to the yard office and one of the mechanics was there (not the man in charge). I said, "I see you put my boat in. Don't you think it would have been a good idea to TELL ME about it first!" He looked at the launching schedule on the board and my name was there for April 18th. I said,"Maybe so. But nobody asked me if I was ready or even informed me that I was scheduled for the 18th. I just started to clean the hull. There are some gelcoat dings that need repairing. The teak wasn't done and the hull wasn't waxed. I asked if they had put the zincs on the prop shaft as I had requested and he didn't know. The poor guy was only following the schedule as he was instructed to do. They painted the bottom and put her in the water. She now has to be rehauled, which is always traumatic. I may have to tell them to repaint the bottom at their expense if I have to keep her out longer than bottompaint to launch time allows. I ran over to the boat because I never even told them that I did the seacocks this weekend so they could check them. I climbed aboard and the upside is that my seacocks are working like a charm and there's not a wet spot anywhere near them! Morey's grease passed the test! It felt soooo good sitting aboard with that gentle bobbing from the motion of the water that I didn't want to get off! But, it was cold and the wind was blowing at least 15 knots. As I said, I should be happy to be in the water on April 18th, but I'm not.
demers@sgi.com
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Dave Potts
Re: I should be happy.....but!
A couple years ago, I was pretty much ready to launch Andronikos, my CD30, except I still needed to replace the VHF antenna and the mast was up on a rack inside one of the storage buildings (My original antenna had spent most of the previous summer flopping around in its bracket, stripping it's threads. At haul-out, the yard's rigger said he thought it might have been struck by lightning, but for all the world, it looked to me like they just hadn't tighted the nut when they rigged it at the beginning of the season!).
I asked the yard to bring the mast out so I could put on the new antenna. Due to space limitations, they said they could only put the mast out if I was launching in the next day or so. I said I was basically ready to go and told them they could put the mast out whenever they could fit me in so I could replace the antenna and then launch.
For the next week or so, every day on the way home from work I stopped at the yard to see if they had the mast out for me yet. I'd check the mast staging area - no mast there - and then check the boat - boat's still there. Then one evening I check - no mast - no boat!! Apparently, they had gotten the mast out and launched the boat all in that same day. To their credit, they had put the new antenna on (I had left it on board) prior to setting the mast but there's that one other little thing I do just before I launch the boat. So I hunted down the yard manager and said "I see you've launched my boat - you DID put in the knotlog impeller DIDN'T YOU?" Yes, but only AFTER they had launched her and realized she was taking on water and sinking before their eyes!! One might think that a quick walk around inspection prior to dropping her in would have quickly revealed a 2"-3" gaping hole in the keel, but apparently, that is not standard practice - nor is a courtesy call to a boat owner when they're about to launch (or after they've nearly sunk your boat).
Dave
(FYI: I leave the impeller out when she's on the hard to limit the level of water that might accumulate in the bilge due to deluge or other unanticipated hydrological event, and yes, we're talking from experience here)
I asked the yard to bring the mast out so I could put on the new antenna. Due to space limitations, they said they could only put the mast out if I was launching in the next day or so. I said I was basically ready to go and told them they could put the mast out whenever they could fit me in so I could replace the antenna and then launch.
For the next week or so, every day on the way home from work I stopped at the yard to see if they had the mast out for me yet. I'd check the mast staging area - no mast there - and then check the boat - boat's still there. Then one evening I check - no mast - no boat!! Apparently, they had gotten the mast out and launched the boat all in that same day. To their credit, they had put the new antenna on (I had left it on board) prior to setting the mast but there's that one other little thing I do just before I launch the boat. So I hunted down the yard manager and said "I see you've launched my boat - you DID put in the knotlog impeller DIDN'T YOU?" Yes, but only AFTER they had launched her and realized she was taking on water and sinking before their eyes!! One might think that a quick walk around inspection prior to dropping her in would have quickly revealed a 2"-3" gaping hole in the keel, but apparently, that is not standard practice - nor is a courtesy call to a boat owner when they're about to launch (or after they've nearly sunk your boat).
Dave
(FYI: I leave the impeller out when she's on the hard to limit the level of water that might accumulate in the bilge due to deluge or other unanticipated hydrological event, and yes, we're talking from experience here)
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M. R. Bober
Re: I should be happy.....but!
'Twas a good thing, that you had the seacocks reassembled (Morey's or not). I, like most--I suspect, want to be at the yard whenever my boat is being moved. Don't ask about the time when I was aboard (on the hard) when the Travelift hit the boat and almost moved her far enough to drop her. My most frightening episode on a Cape Dory.
Every best wish,
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330
Every best wish,
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330